Ex-pat and non-existing ST holding fans are unhappy that they can’t just buy one seeing as we’re effectively all in the same boat right now.

But there’s something else, something big.

Has UK ‘law’ (more on that later) now changed to allow Saturday broadcasting at 3PM of live football on the British Isles?

Ever since the 60s, ever since the government and football clubs decided they didn’t want to lose out on stadium gates and revenue and made 3PM Saturday live TV football illegal, there hasn’t been a match broadcast in the UK at 3PM for the blanket hours of 14:45 to 17:15 hours – it’s called the Blackout. And no, not that one.

The caveat these days is this also, with the advent of the Internet the past 20 years, now includes online streams.

In short, no live video broadcast via any medium is allowed in the UK between those hours.

So… has the law changed to allow that now?

RTV covers all matches, but particularly ones on a Saturday, for the benefit of ex-pats. It is not supposed to be for anyone in the UK, but, we all know there are ways around that.

But with the club now stating all RTV live matches will be available for ST holders, either there’s been a change in the law to now allow these matches to go out live at that time, or KO time will accommodate the law instead.

Of course, no one can actually go to matches anywhere (apart, curiously enough, from Belarus, of course) at the moment, so the law is absolutely moot at present.

But a law change still requires a vote, and we’re not aware of that having been carried out.

It means one of three things:

Either these matches are now to be live and the law is being ignored for a while.

The law has outright changed and 3PM is now legal.

Or:

The KO times for these matches will not be 3PM on a Saturday. Any of them.

Now, UEFA DID lift their own blackout restrictions in April for the UK, so we’re well aware of that, but that’s not the same thing as the UK law passed in the 60s. That would STILL require to be lifted.

Now, there’s a further caveat – when we say ‘UK law’ we are not strictly referring to parliament, but to football law – this is a football rule, agreed by all associations in the UK and bound to law, but it’s not written as a statute requiring a vote in parliament.

If you break this rule/law you can be taken to court, but it’s not quite the same as PC Plod arresting you on the spot.

Either way, this new position for next season definitely stands out.